School of Medicine
Showing 1-50 of 64 Results
-
Amin Sadeghi
Postdoctoral Scholar, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsApplications of artificial intelligence in medicine
-
Vafi Salmasi
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine (Adult Pain)
BioDr. Vafi Salmasi is an interventional pain specialist and anesthesiologist at Stanford University School of Medicine. He earned his medical degree from Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2004. He completed his anesthesiology training at the Cleveland Clinic, where he also completed a research fellowship in the Department of Outcomes Research.
After his fellowship in Pain Medicine, Dr. Salmasi joined the Stanford University Division of Pain Medicine as a faculty member. He furthered his expertise by earning a Master’s Degree in Clinical Research and Epidemiology.
Dr. Salmasi’s research focuses on advancing clinical knowledge through the real-world application of therapies in perioperative and pain medicine. He integrates pragmatic comparative effectiveness research into routine clinical care. At the Stanford Pain Management Center, he is an active member of the neuromodulation and advanced intervention team. -
Stanley Samuels
Professor (Clinical) of Anesthesia, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsNeuroanesthesia; anesthesia in developing countries.
-
Adam Craig Schlifke
Clinical Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
BioDr. Schlifke is a board-certified anesthesiologist and former medical director with fundamental business training highly motivated to improve healthcare delivery in the US through technology. He enjoys working in entrepreneurial environments that are focused on designing innovative solutions that are well integrated into the healthcare workflow. Dr. Schlifke loves to "disrupt" healthcare delivery with technology-enabled services.
-
Audrey Shafer
Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Emeritum
Current Research and Scholarly Interestsliterature and medicine, humanistic aspects of medicine and anesthesia care, language and medicine, communication, medical humanities, creative writing, arts and healthcare
-
Steven L. Shafer, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine (Adult MSD) at the Stanford University Medical Center, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of intravenous anesthetics, including drug interactions and continuous measures of drug effect; model-based drug development; target controlled drug delivery; advanced models of drug behavior.
-
Pilleriin Sikka
Postdoctoral Scholar, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI strive to understand the phenomenology, dynamics, mechanisms, and impact of subjective experiences that occur across different states of consciousness—from wakefulness to normal sleep and dreaming, to anesthesia dreaming, and to psychedelic experiences. As part of my doctoral research, conducted under the mentorship of Prof. Antti Revonsuo, I investigated the conceptual and methodological challenges in the study of dream experiences, the neural correlates of these experiences, and how dreaming is associated with waking well-being. In 2021, I joined Stanford University as a Postdoctoral Scholar, initially working at the Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory under the mentorship of James J. Gross. In this role, I expanded my research to explore emotions and emotion regulation across the wake-sleep cycle and to study an oft-overlooked aspect of well-being--peace of mind. Since November 2023, I have been a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, where, under the mentorship of Dr. Boris Heifets, I am investigating transformative experiences, specifically, the mechanisms and therapeutic potential of anesthesia-induced dream states and psychedelic experiences.
Leveraging my unique multidisciplinary background, my goal is to bridge the fields of consciousness research, sleep and dream research, emotion research, and well-being research and draw upon the concepts, theories, and methods from psychology, neuroscience, and (molecular) biology. To this end, I have experience in using diverse methods, including self-reports (development, validation, and use of questionnaires), interviews, ecological momentary assessment (EMA/ESM; diaries), behavioural experiments, natural language processing, sleep monitoring techniques, and electrophysiological (EEG/ERP) recordings, combined with qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
With an overarching goal of conducting research with societal impact, I aspire to: (1) develop innovative diagnostic and prognostic markers of mental health and well-being, and (2) to devise and test interventions scalable for enhancing the mental and physical well-being of communities. -
Laura Simons
Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine (Pediatric)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am a Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and a clinical psychologist who evaluates and treats youth presenting with chronic pain in the Pediatric Pain Management Clinic (PPMC) at Stanford Children’s Health. My program of research aims to utilize a pain neuroscience psychology approach to gain a mechanistic understanding of cognitive and affective processes in pediatric pain, perform rigorous patient-oriented research that translates targeted assessment into mechanistically informed treatment approaches for optimal clinical care and leverage the ubiquity of digital health to enhance patient access and reach. Central to these goals are projects targeting adolescence and youth adults with chronic pain that encompass defining brain signatures of threat interpretation, evaluating the efficacy of graded exposure (NCT03699007), deriving a biosignature of improvement vs. persistence of pain and disability (NCT04285112), and evaluating the impact of virtual reality on pain rehabilitation (NCT04636177). These studies along with additional work examining the journey of pain care for youth with pain and their parents form a comprehensive research portfolio in the realm of understanding and treating chronic pain in young people. My long-term career goal is to lead a robust research program focusing on alleviating the suffering of youth and emerging adults with chronic pain.
-
Vanila M. Singh, MD MACM
Clinical Associate Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
BioDr Singh is the immediate past Chief Medical Officer in the US Department of Health and Human Services and was Chairperson of the highly regarded HHS Task Force in conjunction with the Department of Defense and the Veterans Affairs. She led this group to the comprehensive and approachable final report submitted to Congress. She is a clinical associate professor of Anesthesiology, Pain and Peri-operative Medicine at Stanford and is a teaching mentor at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Pain Management Best Practices HHS Task Force Report: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pain-mgmt-best-practices-draft-final-report-05062019.pdf
The Best Practices Pain Inter-agency report that was convened by US Department of HHS in conjunction with Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration is supported by over 160 organizations including the Human Rights Watch, dozens of patient advocacy groups, respected medical organizations including AMA, AAOS, AAPS, ASA, CMA, ASIPP, AAPM, ACOG, CSNS, and dozens of others and key stakeholders such as nursing, social workers, integrative health primary physicians pharmacists and others. There were over 10,000 public comments highlighting the challenges that forced tapering of opioids and the abandonment of chronic pain patients across the nation. The significant patient harms have been a topic of concern with the resulting number of suicides and adverse clinical outcomes pushing patients to the medically unsupervised black market.
Dr Singh has a background in molecular and cell biology, economics, pain medicine, and regional anesthesia with a forte in advanced ultrasound guided procedures for pain and anesthesia medicine. She is double board-certified in pain and anesthesiology. She has served in medical ethics, and to served on scientific editorial boards, committees for the American Society of Regional Anesthesia, American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, California Medical Association, and the Santa Clara County Medical Association . She has an interest & remains involved in health policy with a background in economics. Dr Singh has been invited and has spoken extensively around the country about the opioid crisis and pain management as well as the growing illicit drug crisis afflicting the nation. Dr Singh's practice uniquely focuses on regional anesthesia and peri-operative, subacute, and the development of chronic pain, with an appreciation on complimentary and traditional medicine approaches that emphasizes an individualized patient-centered approach. She has interests that include public health, persistent pain following surgical procedures, and long term chronic and complex pain issues. Dr. Singh has a background and interest in education for medical students, residents, and fellows. She has identified the growing clinical administrative burden of physicians as a challenge to good patient care, and has spoken about EHR and health IT in general. She strongly believes in a compassionate, individualized patient-centered approach to medicine. She completed a masters in academic medicine as part of her professional development to further enhance leadership, educational curriculum development, interdisciplinary work and various presentations and projects with faculty from around the country. -
Kristen M. Slater, PsyD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Bio“Understanding and appreciating the totality of a person’s experience in the context of a difficult pain condition is vital in helping them heal in a way that respects their body and reduces suffering” states Dr. Kristen Slater, pain psychologist. “With a compassionate interdisciplinary care team in place, I wholeheartedly believe it is possible for anyone and everyone living with pain to pursue a meaningful and valuable life.”
Dr. Kristen Slater earned her Doctorate of Psychology with an emphasis in Behavioral Medicine and Health Psychology from Loma Linda University. She completed her APA-accredited internship at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System in Tucson, Arizona. It was there that she developed a passion for Pain Medicine after appreciating how much of an impact pain can have in all areas of life and how powerful interdisciplinary treatment of pain can be in improving one’s quality of life. She went on to receive specialized postdoctoral training and completed an APA-accredited Fellowship in Pain Psychology at Stanford University School of Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Pain, in 2014.
Following her training, she was hired as the lead psychologist and Director of Behavioral Medicine and Psychological Services at Comprehensive Spine and Sports Center in Campbell, California for 5 years where she helped create and found their Functional Restoration Program and Pain Psychology Program. She also worked part-time as a Clinical Instructor at Stanford University School of Medicine and in private practice. She transitioned to Stanford full time in 2019 and is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Pain Medicine. The majority of her time is allocated towards implementing evidence-based clinical practices but she also enjoys being involved in advancing the field through research. She is involved in multiple NIH and PCORI funded clinical trials working to enhance treatment efficacy and accessibility. She is also a faculty member of the "Empowered Relief" team, and is a Master Trainer involved in teaching international workshops to train clinicians to deliver the single-session evidence-based pain relief skills class, (https://empoweredrelief.com).
Outside of work, Dr. Slater enjoys spending time with her family. She enjoys hiking, traveling and visiting her home state of Colorado. -
Katie Speirs M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
BioDr. Speirs is a practicing Anesthesiologist at Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, CA. She is a member of the multi-specialty division with a focus on Head and Neck and Thoracic Anesthesia subdivisions. Passionate about education, Dr. Speirs values highly the art of teaching and excellence in clinical care within the medical community. She participates in the education of all levels of student ranging from undergraduate to fellow. She is an advocate for green initiatives and sustainability in healthcare. Dr. Speirs strives to enhance collaboration and communication within the medical field and was involved in the introduction of personalized scrub caps to the operating rooms at Stanford. With a unique blend of medical expertise, dedication to education, and environmental consciousness, Dr. Speirs is at the forefront of shaping a holistic approach to high quality healthcare at Stanford.
-
David Stahl
Clinical Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
BioDavid Stahl, MD FASA is a Clinical Professor of Anesthesiology at Stanford University and the Division Chief of Critical Care. Clinically he has a particular interest in Obstetric Critical Care and served on the Maternal Mortality Review Committee for the state of Ohio for almost 10 years. His combined interest in education and obstetric critical care has led to appointment as the Vice Chair for the ASA Education Track Subcommittee on Obstetric Anesthesia, and as chair of the SOAP Education Steering Committee and member of the SOAP Board of Directors. He is also an APPLIED examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology. His other professional interests include the use of technology in medical education, as well as exploring resilience and flourishing in medical trainees and faculty.
-
Donald Stanski
Professor of Anesthesia, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPharmacokinetics and dynamics of anesthetic drugs.
-
Creed Stary
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine (MSD) and, by courtesy, of Ophthalmology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMechanisms promoting neuronal survival following cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury; utilizing microRNA's to target multiple pathways to promote mitochondrial homeostasis and cell survival; anesthetic neurotoxicity; astrocyte-neuronal interaction
-
David K. Stevenson, M.D.
Harold K. Faber Professor of Pediatrics and Professor, by courtesy, of Obstetrics and Gynecology and of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
On Partial Leave from 09/01/2024 To 08/31/2025Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur research is focused on the study of the ontogeny and control of heme catabolism and bilirubin production in the developing neonate. A better understanding of the role of increased bilirubin production in neonatal jaundice and the prevention of hemolytic jaundice has remained an overall objective of our program. We are also study the causes of preterm birth and ways to prevent it.
